[CASTLE DOCTRINE] HB1926 Passed the House after coming back from the Senate!

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Rendell vetoes castle doctrine legislation

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Gov. Ed Rendell today vetoed a bill that he feared would escalate violent acts by expanding a person's rights in Pennsylvania to use deadly force, even when safe retreat is possible, if feeling threatened outside their home.

Mr. Rendell criticized the bill as a dangerous solution to a nonexistent problem that would encourage a "shoot first, ask questions later" mentality.

"I do not believe that in a civilized society we should encourage violent and deadly confrontation when the victim can safely protect themselves" through retreat, Mr. Rendell wrote in his veto message. "As keepers of the public trust, we have the solemn duty to protect our citizenry, not put them in harm's way, and to protect the sanctity of human life."

The bill would have expanded Pennsylvania's so-called Castle Doctrine and offered immunity against civil lawsuits in certain cases to people who could show that they acted within the law's guidelines. Current law allows the use of deadly force in self-defense only when a person is attacked in their home or workplace, Rendell said.

The term-limited Democrat, who leaves office Jan. 18, took action on the bill Saturday, the last possible day he could have vetoed it before it would have become law automatically.

It passed the Senate, 45-4, in October and the House, 161-35, earlier this month. Republican Gov.-elect Tom Corbett has said he would have signed it.

The bill was supported by the National Rifle Association but opposed by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association.

It said, in part, that "no person should be required to surrender his or her personal safety to a criminal, nor should a person be required to needlessly retreat in the face of intrusion or attack outside the person's home or vehicle."

However, Mr. Rendell was conflicted because Republicans who control the state Senate had packaged the self-defense elements into a wider bill with separate provisions to update the registration requirements of homeless and out-of-state sexual offenders, which he supported.

Mr. Rendell also vetoed two other bills today. One would have limited public access to reports by county coroners and the other would have expanded health insurance coverage for ex-firefighters diagnosed with certain types of cancer.

However, Mr. Rendell was conflicted because Republicans who control the state Senate had packaged the self-defense elements into a wider bill with separate provisions to update the registration requirements of homeless and out-of-state sexual offenders, which he supported.

So who or what did he really support?
The Republicans ?
The Senate ?
The bill ?
The homeless and out-of-state sexual offenders ?

Be glad you're rid of this *******. It will come up again and your new governor will sign it. It passed by veto proof margins but your ******* governor used the end of the session to get away with denying the will of the people.

Every gun owner in PA should join JFPO, and send a copy of their membership card to Gov. Rendell in a Hanukka card, to remind him of the legacy he is promoting, and to bring to his mind the dishonor and disgrace his brings on his own head...

That's like a black politician supporting slavery, or a Native American being a spokesman for a vaccine company...

But then again, this is Ed Rendell we're talking about. The same Governor who gave a $125,000 contract to a private Israeli security firm in Philly to track, trace, and database peaceful protesters in PA, and report them to DHS as "terrorists".

Ed may claim to be Jewish, but his actions as PA's executive politician sound more like the actions of a 1940's Judenrat collaborator. He is an embarrassment to his people, and to all people who claim to be "Children of G*d"...

May the tormented ghosts of his ancestors haunt him for the rest of his life.

May his dreams be tortured by the screams and cries of every Jew who was victimized in the 20th century because they were disarmed.

I hope when he lights his Menorah this Hanukka, that every little flame reminds him of the lives snuffed out by Fascists who disarmed their People.

Ed Rendell is a disgrace to all "People of the Book", be they Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. His actions as Governor of PA and Mayor of Philly over the last few decades have been nothing but a litany of corruption, greed, croneyism, covetousness, lies, creeping tyranny, and duplicity.A ligner hert zich zeineh ligen azoi lang ein biz er glaibt zich alain.
(A liar tells his story so often that he gets to believe it himself.)

There is a special place in Gehinnom for people like Ed Rendell...

Last edited by Dreamer; 12-04-2010 at 03:24 PM.

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
–Mark Twain

Be glad you're rid of this *******. It will come up again and your new governor will sign it. It passed by veto proof margins but your ******* governor used the end of the session to get away with denying the will of the people.